COMMENTARY: Why Cosby’s ‘Family Values’ Show is Just What We Need Right Now

I hope Bill Cosby is successful with his new media venture because prime-time television needs a strong family-values program now more than ever.

Cosby, 72, said he wants to offer viewers a new family comedy that explores relationships between children and their parents, a powerful and timely subject that is sorely missing from evening television.

“I want to be able to deliver a wonderful show to [a] network,” Cosby told TV Guide. “Because there is a viewership out there that wants to see comedy, and warmth, and love, and surprise, and cleverness, without going into the party attitude.”

“They would like to see a married couple that acts like they love each other, warts and all, children who respect the parenting, and the comedy of people who make mistakes. Warmth and forgiveness,” Cosby said.

“So I hope to get that opportunity, and I will deliver the best of Cosby, and that will be a series, I assume, that we could get enough people week after week after week to tune in to, to come along with us,” he added.

Cosby’s idea should resonate with millions of Americans – black and white – who are raising families. He said the new program would not be a remake of “The Cosby Show,” but instead would examine the lives of older children and how they interact with their parents.

I thought of Cosby’s idea for a family values television program while watching a CBS News clip of a game called “Knockout,” a violent and deadly game for some black teenagers who identify an unsuspecting victim and deliver a cold-hearted sucker punch that is so forceful that it renders the person unconscious.

During the game, the young men take turns until one of them knocks the victim unconscious. There have been at least three reported deaths within the last two years from this deadly activity – and police say the game is becoming more popular, especially in black communities across the country.

So what’s the purpose of “Knockout?”

“For the fun of it,” one teen explained, according to the CBS station in Washington, D.C.

“Knockout” is a convincing example for why we need the family values television program that Cosby is offering.